From the Adventures of Foral: A Padawan's Tale
by Captain Fenris
Summary: When two Jedi crash land on the planet earth, they are forced to rely on a skeptical young highschool student to get them home. Companion story to Padme Evenstar's War of the Dimensions series. Please R&R!
1. Prologue: Where It All Started

**A/N:** I'm in the process of re-writing the story, because Andrew McDerson is a little too trusting and out of the character I have planned for him. Little has changed in the prologue, though I have added some stuff.

* * *

**Prologue: Where it all started**

_Journal Entry 1…playback commencing…_

_Teenage human male voice If you're listening to this recording, there are several reasons how you got a hold of it._

_One, you found it. Either in deep space, or on some planet somewhere, or something._

_Two, it was in my grave. Now that could be an animal's stomach, or a pit in the earth. Or even next to a jar of ashes._

_Three, it was in the Jedi Archives. If that's the case, then this has some great lesson from my life, so listen up, or you'll miss something important._

_Four, it was in the Sith archives, and I was incredibly evil. Now, right now, I desperately hope that this is not the case._

_Five, it was in the Coruscant Library. That would mean that I was a very important non-Jedi figure._

_Six, this is a family heirloom. That of course means that I was nobody in the great scheme of things. But that's OK, because it's nice to know about your ancestors, whether Father, Mother, Grandfather, etc._

_Whatever the case, I'm dead. I died, and now I'm dead. No way about it, so stop crying. I'm not crying. Do you see me crying? You know what? Never mind. Just quit your crying, pull up a chair, and get comfortable, because I'm about to tell you my life story, so it might take a while._

_First off, you should know a little about me. I was a normal kid growing up on the planet Earth. I was in high school, though I was a little eccentric for my classmates. Well, all except for this one kid, whose name was Henry Austin Nolos. He was OK, but I got on his nerves a lot, and my uber-geek mode annoyed him immensely, but we were close._

_Not as close as me and my sister though. My parents were Mr. and Mrs. McDerson. They had two kids, me, and Cassandra. She was amazing. Smart, athletic, beautiful. All the guys at school wanted to go out with her. Or most of them anyway. Few actually did anything about it though._

_She was a year older than me, but we were as close as twins. We looked like we could be twins too. Unfortunately, that wouldn't last. When she was fifteen, she mysteriously disappeared. I haven't seen her since._

_Two years later, to the day, something happened that would change my life, forever. I was sitting in my room, doing nothing, but pretending to study for tomorrows Physics test. And I _am_ a physics genius, if I do say so myself. But that's why I hated it. It was too easy. I like a challenge, and High school physics wasn't it. Football was a bit of a challenge, so I enjoyed that some. Until I was benched that is. I just didn't have what it took to be a great running back. So I turned to the skate park after school._

_Anyways, I should have been studying. But I wasn't. And now I'm glad that I wasn't, because I spotted something crash into the woods behind my house. It was bright, and glowing, and moving at an incredible speed. It was shaped more like a fighter jet, than a meteor, but there were no air bases anywhere around, and nobody ever flew small aircraft over our neighborhood. _

_I suddenly went into science geek mode, trying to estimate the speed of the aircraft, the force that was driving it, and adding the acceleration of gravity. Basically, I came to the conclusion that the Force that it would inflict upon the ground would be magnificent! And of course that the equal and opposite force that would occur to the object would damage it almost beyond repair. And possibly mash anything or anyone that might be in it. And that was if it was made of the strongest earth materiel. I figured that if was extra-terrestrial, then it _might_ survive the crash. So I decided to check it out. That was when my life changed forever. (See? I told you that it might take a while! It took me five minutes just to give the back story!)_

* * *

**A/N:** That's the prologue, the first chapter will be coming as soon as I can get it up. This story takes place in during a series of stories by Padme Evenstar called War of the Dimensions, the first of which is called Shadow. There will be numerous references to events that happen in her story in this one. 


	2. Chapter 1: Crash and Burn

**A/N:**OK, here's the first chapter. I've changed some things after the initial meeting of our hero and the Jedi, so hopefully this will work better than the original version of the chapter.

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 1: Crash and Burn**

Andrew McDerson stared out the window in disbelief. He thought he'd seen a meteor land in the woods behind his house. He glanced at the alarm clock on the night-stand that stood next to his bed. The clock read nine-thirty. _Half an hour,_ he thought, _just enough time_.

He grabbed a flashlight off his bureau, a pocket knife off his night-stand, and his book bag off the floor. He dumped the book bag out, and slung it on his back. He put the pocket knife in his pocket, threw some hiking boots on, and flicked on the flashlight. As he headed for the door, he yelled into the air, "Hey mom, I'm going out to hike in the woods for a while!"

"Alright!" came the reply, "just be back in by ten!"

"I will!" he said as he closed the back door behind him.

Andrew sprinted across his back yard to the tree line. When he reached the woods, he slowed to a jog, flicking of the flashlight. A cold wind blew through the trees, but Andrew shrugged it off. This was too exciting to turn back now. He ducked under a branch at the last minute. He knew this area like the back of his hand, and was very familiar with every tree and branch; he almost didn't need the flashlight.

He began to realize that the air was getting warmer. He was getting close. He entered a clearing, and there it was. It was about forty-seven-and-a-half feet long, and had a wingspan of about seventy-five feet. It almost looked like a P-61 without a tail. _That's no P-61, _Andrew thought to himself, _it doesn't look like it's tail broke off. There's really no other aircraft it could be, unless…no, there's no such thing,_ he told himself.

Then a thought came to him. It appeared as though the cockpits were still in-tact, and by the way it was positioned suggested that the pilot had tried to pull up at the last minute, and it was fairly level, though tilted to one side, with half of the left wing broken off, and the remaining half embedded in the ground, almost making a ramp. It was possible that someone had survived.

He scrambled up the wing, and headed for the rear cockpit. There wasn't anyone inside, so he went to the next one. _I wonder what a modified World War II fighter was doing flying over a small town? _He wondered. When he neared the middle cockpit, he noticed movement coming from inside. He scurried over as fast as he could manage on the uneven surface.

A young woman was kicking at the glass, trying to break free from the plane. Andrew signaled to her to move away. She shook her head. Exasperated, Andrew tapped the glass with his flashlight. She rolled her eyes and pulled a small, metallic, cylindrical device. She placed one end on the glass, and Andrew backed away. _She wouldn't be able to survive an explosive going off in there, what does she think she's doing?_

Instead of smashing the glass like he expected, a ray of blue light flashed through the glass, melting it away. She began to move the light in a circular motion, cutting open a hole in the glass. When she'd cut a reasonably sized hole in the glass, she gave it a hard shove, knocking it onto the ground, but instead of shattering like he'd expected, it hit like a sheet of metal.

The young woman gathered herself as best she could, and jumped out. Her face and hands were an olive green color, and she had a dark blue diamond pattern tattooed across her face from one cheek, across the bridge of her nose, to the other cheek, and her lips were the same color. Her eyes were a bright blue, and she observed her surroundings with an air of calm indifference. She was wearing a black cloth flight-suit, and a large black hooded cloak that would completely cover her entire body if she let it hang over her shoulders. As it was, it was behind her shoulders, with the hood down, the edges dangling just above the heels of her dark leather boots. She clipped the light emitter to her belt, and headed over to the front cockpit. She cut open a hole in the glass, and leaned out of the way, as it launched itself into the ground next to the first. She reached a hand down into the cockpit as if to pull something out. Andrew moved closer so he was looking over her shoulder. There was another woman sitting inside, middle-aged, and dressed similarly to the younger woman, but she had tattoos on her chin, from her lower lip down, instead of across her face. Her skin was the same color as the younger one, and her cloak was more ornamented, and she wore bracers on her arms. She was pinned under a piece of the dash board, and there was a cut on her head. It wasn't bleeding much, but it didn't look to pretty. However, there was a cut on her shoulder that was bleeding profusely. Andrew was about to help remove the panel, when the younger lifted her hand out to the machinery. He cocked his head in confusion. He was sure he saw her smirk slightly. Suddenly, it began to wobble slightly, then it steadied, and began to lift out of the ship. She moved her hand in unison with the machinery, until it was close to the ground, and lowered her hand. The lump of metal and wires dropped to the ground with a crash. She then reached her hand in and helped the other woman out.

"Are you alright, master?" the younger asked in concern, looking at the cut on the older one's forehead.

"I'm fine," the older one replied shakily, her eyes appeared unfocused, and glazed over.

A look of dismay crossed the younger's face. "No, you're not. You might have a concussion, and you've lost a lot of blood from that cut on your shoulder. Let me look at it."

The older one sighed. "If you insist," she replied.

"I do," the younger replied. She then placed her hand on the forehead of the older, where the cut was, and closed her eyes. A few minutes later, she removed her hand. Andrew's jaw dropped in shock. The cut was gone, and the older woman's eyes didn't appear as dark. They were a brighter shade of blue than the younger.

The younger of the two women appeared to be slightly exhausted. "We'll have to bandage that cut on your arm," she said wearily. She dug through her cockpit, and pulled out a small metal box, which she opened, and removed a coil of white bandage. She cut a strip of it, rubbed one side in some kind of reddish goop, and tied it around the shoulder wound. "There, that should stop the bleeding, and hopefully that will heal soon." The younger of the two dropped to the ground to the right of the craft, and sat on a charred stump, curling her legs under her, placing her ankles on her thighs, and sighed. "Now we need to find out how to get off this rock," she muttered.

The older dropped to the ground next to her, and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "There is one option," she replied, and leaned down close to the younger.

Andrew scrambled down the wing, and stood, watching them as they discussed something amongst themselves._ What are they talking about_, Andrew wondered to himself. The younger one was probably around her late teens, early twenties, and at least 5' 5", probably 5' 6", and, Andrew thought, rather attractive. The older one was about the same height, maybe a little taller.

The two seemed to resolve on something, though the younger wasn't too keen on the idea, whatever it was, and older of the two approached him. "We thank you for coming to our aid…"

"Or at least trying to," the younger interrupted.

"…however, we would greatly appreciate some more assistance," the older woman finished, with a glance at the younger woman conveying her frustration at being interrupted. "We need parts for an ARC-170 star fighter."

Andrew considered her words. "An Aggressive ReConnaissance 170 Star fighter, eh?" he thought aloud, stifling a laugh. Now _this_ is funny. They really expected him to believe that they were from Star Wars? _I wasn't born yesterday,_ he thought to himself. He couldn't resist "I'm not sure how much I can help you, but I'll see what I can do, but we don't get many republic visitors here," he replied, as serious as he could muster without laughing.

They obviously weren't buying. "I'm sorry, what's so funny?" the older of the two asked, incredibly confused.

"You don't believe us," the younger stated plainly.

Andrew tried to hold back a laugh, but it came out as a snort. "Are you kidding? ARC 170? I'm not stupid, I _know_ they don't exist. What, were you going to tell me that you're Jedi next? Come on! I wasn't born yesterday!

The older of the two nodded. "So you don't believe in Jedi?" she asked calmly, clearly not concerned, or offended. Andrew shook his head.

The older Jedi sighed. She nodded to the younger, who stood up, and walked over to the tail-end of the plane, and stood, squaring herself with Andrew. She reached out her hand, closed her eyes, and stood there for a minute.

Andrew smirked, and began tossing the flashlight up in the air so that it flipped a couple of times, and landed in his hand. He did this three times, but the fourth time, the flashlight froze in place, as if it had hit an invisible barrier. Andrew tried to grab it out of the air, but it dodged his hand. He tried again, but it dodged again. A small smile crept across the younger woman's face, and the flashlight promptly tapped him on the head.

"Ouch!" he exclaimed, rubbing his head. The older woman frowned slightly at the flashlight, but remained planted where she was, hands up the opposite sleeves. Then the younger woman flicked her wrist so that her palm was facing upwards, and the flashlight instantly flew to her outstretched hand, and landed softly in her palm. She wrapped her fingers around it, looked it over for a second or two, and tossed it to a stunned Andrew.

She looked him over as she approached where he was standing. He was wearing some kind of blue, woven fabric, and he was wearing a black shirt with a red 'S' inside a strange diamond shape. His hair was a dark brown, and he had dark brown eyes that seemed to take in every movement of every object in his range of vision. He had a scar on his left arm that went from the inside of his elbow to the palm side of his wrist.

"Where'd you get that?" she asked, pointing out the scar.

He glanced down at it, and then shrugged. "Got too close to my sister in a stick fight doing an over head hack, she went up to block, point of the stick came right up my arm. Needed stitches, but it didn't hurt that much. I learned a pretty good lesson that day."

"So, do you believe us now?" the older one asked.

Andrew's brow furrowed in thought. "I…guess…I don't really have a choice after that display, do I?"

The older woman shook her head. "Alright, then, I guess I should probably get your names then?" he asked.

The older woman stepped forward. "I am Luminara Unduli, I am a Jedi Master, and a Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic."

The younger stepped forward. "And I am Barriss Offee, Jedi Knight, and General of the Grand Army of the Republic."

"I'm Andrew McDerson. I'm a sixteen-year-old highschool sophomore. I'm also a physics wiz. I'll see what I can get you for parts and supplies, and I'll be here at…" he paused to remember the exact military time for it, "sixteen hundred, local time."

Luminara nodded her approval, and Andrew looked at his watch. "It's about…twenty-one fifty right now, which means I need to go. I will see you both at sixteen hundred tomorrow." He turned and began jogging through the trees.

He slowed down half way through to take in the scenery. He always enjoyed the fall weather. The only sound was the crunching leaves under-foot. A gentle breeze blew, causing a shiver to run up Andrew's spine. It was getting colder. October had just ended a few days ago. He realized that he was at the beginning of a great journey, whatever was going to happen next. Andrew kicked at a rock, and inhaled the early November air. It was a tad chilly, and every once and a while a cold wind blew, causing the trees to sway, creating a torrent of leaves. The cold winds also forced Andrew to hunch over, and rub arms.

"It'll be dark soon," Andrew remarked to no one in particular, as he approached his back yard. There was a bent rusty swing set to one side that had been abandoned for years. There was a string lining the ground, and a small oval-shaped ball sat somewhere near the middle of the makeshift 'field'. It looked almost abandoned.

Andrew walked in by the back door, and hurried into his room. He turned on a T.V., and scanned every news channel. So far nobody had reported the star fighter's crash landing. He smiled to himself, and turned off the T.V., and went over to a bookcase standing in one corner. He grabbed a few books, and sat down on the bed, and began reading. _Now, to refresh my memory of these two Jedi_, he thought to himself.

* * *

Barriss stared after Andrew as he left. "We're going to trust him? He didn't even believe us at first."

Luminara grabbed a supply bag from the ship with her good arm. "We don't have a choice. He's not a bad person, and if this planet is like the rest of the universe, there _are_ bad people on this world. We need to trust him. Otherwise, we're never going to get off this planet."

Barriss nodded. "It just seems so wrong that we're relying on someone who didn't even believe we existed until today, when we're Jedi. I just don't like feeling helpless."

Luminara raised an eyebrow. "We deal with people who don't believe in the Force all the time, what make him so different?"

Barriss shifted uncomfortably. "There's just something about him…almost like he's, I don't know, different than every other civilian I've ever come in contact with. Like he's out of place. His behavior almost seems odd, even though I've seen many other beings act the same way. It's hard to explain."

Luminara nodded. "I understand completely. I've felt it as well. A slight disturbance in the force around him. He's not normal, that much is clear. Whether or not that is of any importance to us, not yet clear."

Barriss nodded, and accepted a food ration from her former Master. She gazed off into the woods where Andrew had left. Why did she feel like there was something important about him, like he had a destiny that was of some importance to her?

"We should get some sleep," Luminara said, placing a hand on Barriss' shoulder. Barriss nodded, and got a sleep roll out of the ship, and laid it on the ground.

The two Jedi laid down on their sleep rolls, and closed their eyes. Barriss felt an uneasiness fill her mind. She tried to focus on breathing, synching up with that of Luminara's. Soon she began to drift off into a deep sleep.

* * *

**A/N:**Well, there you go. I appreciate all reviews. 


	3. Chapter 2: Dented Hull

A/N: Well, here you go. Another chapter. This chapter takes place a day before the first chapter of Padme Evenstar's story _War of the Dimensions: Shadow._

**

* * *

**

Chapter 2: Dented Hull

The day seemed to last an eternity for Barriss. She spent a good portion of the morning stretching, and practicing her lightsaber forms. She spared with Luminara for a few hours after lunch. Around sixteen hundred, she decided to take a look at their surroundings.

She gathered the Force around her, coiled her body like a spring, and released the Force while she launched herself upwards. She landed expertly on a limb ten feet up the nearest tree. She leapt from branch to branch, maneuvering around the forest, taking in their surroundings in a one kilometer radius.

As she headed back to the ship, she heard someone running through the underbrush beneath her. She immediately jumped to the lowest branch of the tree to her right, and looked in the direction of the sound. Andrew was running through the forest with an expertise she hadn't expected from him. He bounded over roots, and rolled under branches. His speed indicated an acute knowledge of his surroundings. _He would be quite formidable in a fight with this sort of knowledge,_ she thought to herself.

Suddenly, he leapt onto a low branch, only three feet above the ground, and turned. He began scanning the forest with nervous apprehension, and a smile of twisted enjoyment. Then he dove off the branch, and rolled to a stop behind a tree. On the trunk of the tree behind him was a spot of a wet, colored liquid goop.

Andrew opened his backpack, and pulled out two clear, blaster-shaped objects, and gripped them tightly. He replaced the bag on his back, and jumped out from behind the tree, using the branch for cover. He pulled down on the triggers of his weapons, and began sidestepping around the branch. His attackers had just come into view from behind trees. They were tall, burly, and dressed completely in camouflage. They wore masks on their faces that concealed their faces, though whether it protected their identities or their faces, she wasn't sure. They suddenly began to dance around as if being stung by hundreds of unseen insects.

They eventually began fighting the urge to react to the pain, and brought their weapons to bear. They were much like blaster-rifles, but they had a large crescent-shaped tube attached to them, and they hurled small marble-sized balls that burst into painted splotches on impact.

Andrew was doing everything in his power to dodge the staining missiles. He launched himself against the trunks of trees, only to launch himself unpredictably towards his attackers. He was hit by a couple of his opponent's ammo, but only on the arms.

Then, without warning, the leader of the group convulsed as if being stabbed in the back by a lightsaber, and collapsed to the ground. Soon after, his four companions followed suit. They quickly gathered their weapons, glared at Andrew, and rushed off into the woods.

Barriss scanned the area behind the group of assailants, and found a blonde-haired young man, about Andrew's age, in a prone position on a wooden platform she hadn't seen earlier, holding a clear sniper rifle. He scrambled to his feet, slung the weapon over his shoulder, and clambered down the branches of his tree, dropping the last few feet to the ground in front of Andrew.

He grinned wildly. "We showed them today, didn't we?" he asked victoriously. His voice was slightly higher pitched than Andrew's, and not quite as rough. He clearly had a brighter outlook on life than did Andrew.

"Yeah, I guess," he muttered with a shrug. "They'll only be back with more intensity next time."

Andrew's friend shook his head in disapproval. "Joy-kill," he said in a sing-song voice. "But seriously, what say we go grab a burger, I'm starving."

Andrew shook his head. "No thanks, I'm not in the mood."

"Tacos?"

Andrew sighed. "No, I, look, I've got something I've gotta do right now," he replied, glancing in the direction of the ship.

The friend shrugged. "Alright, I'll see ya later; _I'm_ going to go get a burger." With that, he sped off through the forest with slightly more agility than Andrew displayed.

Barriss dropped to the ground as Andrew headed in the direction of the downed fighter. Andrew jumped slightly, and frowned. He hadn't enjoyed her greeting. "Who was that?" Barriss asked casually.

Andrew shrugged. "He's a friend of mine. His name's Henry."

Barriss nodded. "And who was that other group?" she asked.

Andrew grimaced. "Just some guys. They don't like me much, but then again I don't like them either, so it all works out nicely," he grunted, clearly trying to bury unpleasant memories.

Barriss shrugged. "Maybe you should try a less violent approach," she suggested.

Andrew snorted half in disgust, half in an attempt to keep down a mocking laugh. "'Less violent'?" he echoed incredulously, "I already tried. This is what I've been forced to resort to. Now, I believe you needed my help to repair your ship so you could leave?" The emphasis on the last word was not lost on Barriss. She'd clearly touched a sore spot with him.

She nodded silently, and strode off in the direction of their fighter. Andrew followed close behind, sometimes even slightly ahead, as he bounded from root to rock, to tree branch. Barriss couldn't help but admire his balance and familiarity of the forest. "You spend a lot of time here?" she asked out of curiosity.

Andrew nodded. "Yup," was all he said in reply. They continued on in silence until they came to the clearing. Andrew whistled. He hadn't seen the spacecraft in daylight yet, and was clearly more than slightly daunted at the prospect of repairing the ship.

He returned Luminara's greeting, and quickly appraised the ship's damage. The starboard wing had been broken off, and the bottom of the hull had been severely dented. The protruding spire at the bottom of the nose had been pressed flat against the hull. Thankfully the engines were both intact, and upon investigation (after being directed to it's location from the Jedi) he determined that the power core was still intact.

He related his findings to the two Jedi. "And you're S-foils are jammed, but hopefully, you won't need them. You're also going to need to weld the wing back in place, and the damage to the hull will probably slow you down while you're in the atmosphere. Other than that and the fact that you've lost your starboard laser cannon, you're OK."

Luminara was impassive as he related his findings, and then said, "You do intend to help us, do you not?"

Andrew grinned wildly. "I thought you'd never ask." He dropped his backpack onto the ground, and pulled out a hammer. "Now, if you two ladies would lift the ship…"

Barriss stared at him, a look of shock on her face. Luminara's face remained blank, but her emotions were clearly not too different. "How long do you intend to take?" she asked calmly.

Andrew nodded to himself. _That's right, Yoda was exceptional with his Force use,_ he thought to himself, then replied, "Well, probably a few hours, but if you don't think you two can hold it that long, we can find something to support its weight, and you can just set it down on that."

Luminara nodded. "That will be acceptable," she replied evenly.

Barriss then began cutting branches that were thick enough to hold the ships weight, and Andrew began arranging them into a tent shape. When they had enough, the two Jedi reached out with their minds, combined their wills into one, and began to lift the fighter, shakily at first, and then steadily, until it was slightly higher than the stilts they'd built. While they held it in place, Andrew wedged the stilts against the wings so that the ship wouldn't fall to either side, and then placed another under the nose of the craft. The Jedi slowly lowered the ship onto the stilts, and released it. The three of them waited for a minute as the ship settled. Andrew grinned as the fighter stayed put. He quickly began hammering at the nose, trying to straighten the spire on the bottom. Luminara and Barriss instantly began helping wherever they could.

Andrew spent most of the day working on the nose, or explaining the purpose of the various tools in his backpack. By dark, they had repaired all but the broken wing. Andrew stood up, and brushed the dirt from his hands and pant legs. "Well," he said, his breath coming in quick bursts, "I have to go, but I will return in the morning somewhere around twelve hundred or thirteen hundred hours tomorrow. Then we can get to work on that wing."

Luminara nodded. "Goodnight then, Andrew."

Barriss placed a screwdriver in his backpack, and handed it to him. He put the straps around his shoulders, waved, and jogged off into the forest. Barriss sagged against the hull of the starfighter, and let out a deep sigh. Luminara sat next to her. The two of them sat there for several hours, resting their tired muscles before pulling out their bed rolls, and going to sleep.

* * *

A/N: Thank you for reading, I really appreaciate reviews!


	4. Chapter 3: Spinning Stars

**Chapter 3: Spinning Stars**

Andrew rolled over and looked at the alarm clock on his nightstand. It said ten O' clock. Sunlight streamed through his blinds, bathing the room in a soft yellow glow. _Great_, he thought to himself, starting to pull the covers over his head, _maybe I can still get back to sleep_. He suddenly stopped, noticing something strange, threw the blanket off his face, and stared at the wall.

There, over his dresser, instead of sitting on its hanging display, his prop replica of Andûril was actually _floating!_ He jumped out of bed, threw on his clothes, grabbed his book bag off the floor, along with the few tools he thought he'd need, and headed out into the rest of the house. The sword instantly dropped to the floor with a _clang!_ the instant he left the room. He paused in the kitchen to heat up six pop-tarts, threw together a few sandwiches, and ran out the door. He sprinted through the woods to the crash site.

He stormed into the clearing, hands clenched into fists. Barriss parried a blow from Luminara's lightsaber, and looked curiously at the approaching youth. Andrew let the backpack fall to the ground as he glared at Barriss. She checked her wrist chrono. "You're early," she stated nonchalantly.

"What were you doing?" he asked venomously.

Barriss stared at him with a baffled expression, which quickly melted into contempt. "And what exactly am I being accused of?" she asked with an indignant tone in her voice.

"You know what you did!" he snarled at her, "You were messing with my stuff with your blasted Force powers!"

She looked at him, her face displaying rage and indignation, but her eyes betraying her confusion. "I…didn't…do…anything…" she sputtered, flabbergasted at the accusation.

Andrew stared at her, perplexed. "If you didn't do it, then…" he turned and found Luminara looking every bit as confused as they were. A thought crossed his mind just then. "Was it me?" he voiced aloud, incredulously.

Luminara stared at him, as if she could see right through him, to his very soul. Slowly, she began to reply. "It is possible. Seeing as how your culture regards the Jedi as fantasy, they wouldn't think to contact us if they believed their child exhibited the signs of being Force-strong. There may be hundreds, maybe thousands of people on this planet that have an affinity to the Force."

Andrew cocked his head as he considered the implications of being Force sensitive. "Does that mean I could be a Jedi?" he asked curiously.

Barriss scrunched up her face in skepticism. Luminara looked at Andrew with a look of pity on her face. "You're too old. I doubt that the council would allow your training. And even if they did, there are risks involved with the training of someone of your age to be a Jedi. You've been exposed to certain emotions that would get in the way of your training. You have a life here. You have friends, family; you don't really want to give all that up, do you?"

Andrew shrugged, dejected. "I guess not," he muttered, then remembered breakfast. He turned and opened up one of the pockets of the book bag, and retrieved the pop-tarts. He handed two each to the Jedi, and took two for himself. "Here, brought something to eat."

They ate in silence, and then Andrew searched the ship until he found a small blow torch. He climbed down from the cockpit. He dropped to the ground and looked at the wing. "Well," he said, scratching his head, "we'll need to find a way to support the wing. Maybe if you two lifted the ship, I could get the landing gear out, and we'll use the stilts from yesterday."

Barriss nodded. "Fine, you get in the ship, and we'll talk you through it," she said, squaring her feet, and closing her eyes. She focused her energy until she connected with Luminara's mind, and then stretched out to the ship. Andrew had just gotten into the cockpit, and was awaiting their orders. "Alright, there should be a switch on the left of the console, pull that down!" she called out when they'd gotten the ship off the ground. She felt the landing gear lower out of their compartments on the underside of the ship's hull, and they slowly lowered the ship.

She released the Force, and walked over to where Andrew was standing. "So, now what?" she asked with feigned expectation.

Andrew smirked. "One of you lifts the wing, while I and the other Jedi place the supports under the wing. Then we weld the wing to the crafts fuselage."

Luminara walked over to where the two of them were talking. "Sounds like you have everything figured out," she commented, and stretched her hand out to the fighter, and raised it into the air, and moved it so that it was hovering next to the ship. Andrew and Barriss quickly placed the supports under the wing. When the stilts were in place, Luminara lowered the wing onto the supports. It swayed for a second before leaning against the fuselage.

Andrew grabbed the blowtorch and a pair of darkened goggles that Barriss handed to him, and got to work. While he welded the wing, Barriss and Luminara made sure all the wires were connected, and all the electrical circuitry was working. By noon, they'd finished repairing the wing, and Andrew divvied out the sandwiches while they waited for the wing to cool.

Luminara took her sandwich and went into the cockpit to contact the Jedi Temple while Barriss and Andrew sat on the newly repaired wing, and began eating their sandwiches. Andrew broke the silence first. "Well, we know we fixed the wing," he commented, taking a large bite out of his ham sandwich.

Barriss gave him a sidelong glance. "Was that making fun of my repairing skills, or were you implying that I was fat?" she asked, hand going playfully to her belt.

Andrew grinned. "Take your pick," he responded jokingly.

Barriss shook her head. "Why are you like that?" she asked, staring through the trees, her cloak flared out behind her by the breeze.

Andrew shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I just get sick of how dark the world is, I don't know," he replied, following her gaze. "Have you ever felt alone, like the entire world is against you, and you were left to fend for yourself?"

Barriss considered the question a moment before replying, "Occasionally, when I'm facing a problem that seems to be more than I can handle."

"What do you do?" he asked, taking another bite of his sandwich.

Barriss gave Andrew a small smile. "I take a deep breath, close my eyes, and let my feelings tell me what to do."

"And that helps?"

"Usually. Or I just try and remember who my family is."

Andrew gave her a curious look. "Family? I thought that Jedi weren't allowed to know their family?"

Barriss grinned at him. "The Jedi _are_ my family, dummy."

Andrew rolled his eyes and stared at her blankly. He took a large bite out of his sandwich, and chewed it deliberately. "You're a jerk," he managed finally.

Barriss smirked at him. "Really? Well, you shouldn't be a hypocrite," she replied, giving him a shove, nearly knocking him off the fighter.

He regained his balance, and shoved back. Barriss considered using the Force to push him off, but decided to just use her natural strength. They began wrestling each other, trying to get the other off the wing. There were several times that Andrew found himself with the upper hand, but Barriss would use her superior training to get back on top. The only thing that kept him from falling off was sheer will and determination. She was definitely stronger than he was, and way more agile.

Finally, Luminara stuck her head out of the cockpit. "Settle down you two," she called out, "Barriss, get ready to go. We're needed back at the temple. We're taking him," she said, indicating Andrew with a nod.

A look of shock crossed Barriss' face, before she was able to regain control of it. "The council wants to see him?" she asked, her voice masking her disbelief.

Luminara nodded. "Mace Windu wants to see what he can do. That is, if he wants to?"

Andrew's eyes lit up. He could hear Anakin echoing in his head. "You mean _I_ get to come with _you_ in your _starship_?" he asked with a grin. "I'm game," he replied with a shrug.

Luminara stared at him a moment, confused at his initial reaction, then shrugged it off. "Get in, then, both of you. We need to get going. Now."

Barriss quickly took her spot behind the pilot's chair, while Andrew took the seat in the back. He strapped himself in with the restraints, and took a deep breath. "Here we go," he muttered to himself.

Luminara and Barriss went through the pre-flight checks, and within moments, they were airborne, hovering just below the tree-line. The engines blew the needles off of the trees behind them, and several birds fled the destructive path of the thruster jets. The maneuvering jets kicked in as Luminara aimed the fighter up towards the sky, and engaged the thrusters.

The craft launched high above the ground, gaining speed almost as fast altitude. As they crossed through the cumulous cloud layer, Andrew looked down at the quickly receding ground. He looked out across the horizon above his head. He could see for miles in all directions from the height they'd obtained within a few seconds. They began increasing their speed, climbing higher and higher into the atmosphere, past the layer of cumulous clouds, farther into the massive blue expanse that surrounded them.

Within a minute of leaving the ground, they'd crossed through the atmospheric boundaries that prevented the cold vacuum of space from entering the planet's air. The stars were clearer out there than he'd ever seen before. He looked back down at the planet earth. His breath was stolen from his lungs by the sight he saw before him. Earth hung in the deep expanse of space like a blue and white marble on a black sheet.

The fighter widened the gap between itself and the planet, and lessened the gravity between them. When it was far enough away, Luminara increased the throttle, and engaged the hyperdrive, sending the fighter hurtling through space at light speed, stars falling back into a blur before them.

Hr

When the Hyperdrive kicked out, they were several thousand light-years away from earth, though, for all Andrew could tell, they seemed to still be in the Milky Way Galaxy. He glanced over his shoulder through Barriss' cockpit windshield. Before them was a large mass of glowing electrical energy that was slowly decreasing in size.

"Let's hope the wormhole is still intact," Barriss said through gritted teeth as the Jedi tried to keep the fighter under control.

"It is," Luminara responded.

To Andrew's shock and surprise, they began flying towards the electrical storm. He faced forward, and squinted his eyes shut. He felt every cell in his body being torn apart by the wormhole they were going through. He tried to scream, but no sound emanated from his lips. Slowly, feeling began to return. First shadows, then the smell of smoke and leather. Then he could feel searing pain. Then he heard three voices calling out in anguish. Then the pain stopped, and full vision returned. His throat was sore from the force of the scream he'd let out. He slumped against his seat.

Luminara put the fighter back into hyperspace, and all three of them rested their sore bodies.

Hr

Andrew woke up to turbulence. He saw the inky blackness of space fading into blue as the fighter descended through the atmosphere. Tall buildings soon entered his view. He recognized the architecture as Coruscant buildings. The fighter rocketed through the sky lanes until it reached a tall, five spire, Pyramidal structure that Andrew could only guess to be the Jedi Temple. The fighter landed in a large hanger in the side of the building, and set down on a platform that rose to meet it.

The cockpits opened up, and the two Jedi exited the craft. Andrew scrambled up from his seat, and clambered awkwardly out of the ship. He followed them hurriedly through a door, past a group of Jedi conversing something between themselves, to a bank of turbolifts. They entered one, and it began ascending the building at an exceptional rate. "Dang, if only elevators were this fast," Andrew commented.

The turbolift finally reached the top of it's climb, and opened up into a small room with an exceptional view of the city on one wall, broken only by the pillars that curved up into a domed ceiling, and the turbolift, that, when opened, finished the panoramic view. On the other end, was a large door that led, Andrew assumed, to the Jedi Council Chamber.

The doors opened, and Luminara and Barriss led Andrew into the Chamber. There were twelve Jedi seated around in a semi-circle that stretched from one side of the door to the other. Andrew stood in silence as Luminara related whatever mission they were on, with elaboration by Barriss in some places, until they indicated to him to step forward. He stood under the Council's scrutiny, noticing that a dark skinned bald man, whom he assumed to be Mace Windu, found a particular interest in him.

"What did you say your name was again?" Mace asked Andrew.

Andrew swallowed, and stepped forward. "Um, it's uh, Andrew McDerson, sir," he replied stuttering.

Mace nodded, and then indicated for Luminara to continue. She then related how they'd gotten off the planet, and their return to Coruscant. The council dismissed the two Jedi, Yoda turned to Andrew. "A Jedi you wish to be, hmm?" he asked in his gravely voice.

Andrew nodded feeling slightly out of place. Two days ago he never would have believed that this place existed, and now he was right in the middle of it all.

Mace leaned forward. "We're going to have to put you through several tests to see if you are Force sensitive. If you are, the Council will have to decide whether or not you will be accepted into the order."

Andrew nodded, more confidently this time. "I'm ready," he said, keeping his nerves in check.

Mace nodded. "Then let us begin."

Hr

Barriss paced back and forth in front of the Council chamber. "What happens if he doesn't pass the tests? Do we take him back? Or do we find somewhere else for him to go?"

Luminara placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "He will be fine. You shouldn't worry about him."

Barriss nodded. "You're right. I should calm down." Barriss lowered herself onto the floor, crossed her legs, and began to meditate. She cleared her head and focused on the blackness before her. Slowly, she grasped onto the Force, letting it flow through her body. Minutes turned to hours as she sat there, calmly waiting for the news on Andrew.

The news seemed to come within moments, though she new instinctively that it had been hours. The door opened up, and the two Jedi walked in, and bowed to the Council.

"Decided the council has," Yoda began, "strong in the Force, this one is. But a Master he needs."

Barriss felt a sudden fleeting connection to Andrew. She followed a gut feeling, and stepped forward. "I will train him," she said, and immediately regretted it.

"No," Mace replied to her relief, "Your ages are to close. No, I shall train him myself. Take him to his room; we'll begin training in the morning."

Hr

Andrew followed the two women through the halls of the Jedi temple. He nearly ran into one Jedi knight as he passed her. He mumbled his apology, then shot her a double take, then decided that it would be too coincidental to be his sister.

They soon reached an opened door that led to a small room. There was hardly anything in the room, except for a cot, and a small alcove where several Jedi robes were hanging. "Nice," he commented. "Small, but it'll do."

"This is where you shall stay during your training," Luminara said in response.

Andrew nodded and bowed to them. "Thank you Master Luminara, Master Barriss."

The two Jedi returned his bow, and left. Andrew walked into the room, and activated the door control, closing it, then flopped down on the cot. He fell asleep almost immediately. _After all,_ he thought as he drifted off, _it'll be a long day._


	5. Chapter 4: Tricks and Nonesense

**A/N:** Sorry it took so long for this chapter to come up. As a heads up, I will soon be doing some cleaning of my profile, as some of my stories are not going anywhere, need a new name, or just need a reboot. This is one of few stories not being replaced or deleted.

* * *

Andrew McDerson sat up with a start. The room was dark, and he couldn't remember where he was. All he knew was that this was _not_ his room. He didn't know how he knew this, but he could just feel that _something_ was not right.

He swung his legs over the edge of the bed. He was still wearing his jeans and t-shirt. Why? He stood up, and began groping through the room in the dark. He found a gap in the wall that was about three feet deep, and three feet wide. There was something soft filling the space. They were….cloaks?

It all came back to him quickly. He was, supposedly, in a dorm room in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. He was almost one hundred percent sure that that's where he was.

He grabbed one of the robes, and pulled it down from whatever was holding it up. He quickly changed into the Jedi robes, and placed his earth clothes in a chest he found at the foot of his cot. He crawled around on the floor until he found the door, and stood up. _I hope they don't have a curfew,_ he thought to himself as he opened the door.

He carefully crept out into the hall, and stood there looking around for a moment. Confident that no one was around, he stole down the corridor. He had no idea where he was going, or what he would find. He crept along until the color and décor of the walls changed. There seemed to be a single room behind the wall to his right, though he couldn't be sure.

_Only one way to find out,_ he thought. He quietly pushed open the closest door to him, and stepped inside. His jaw dropped as he saw what was inside. It was a large room dominated by a waterfall cascading into a large pond. There was vegetation filling up the remainder of what he could see in the room. The far wall was almost out of sight, far behind the tree line. He could only assumer there was more to it than just this.

He instantly realized where he was, the Room of a Thousand Fountains. He began walking through the room, stopping every once and a while to take in the scenery. The forest areas reminded him slightly of home. He walked up to the lake, and stared down into the crystal clear water. It looked inviting and he didn't really have anything better to do, so he took off his cloak, tunic, and boots, and dove into the water.

The water was cold, but Andrew didn't care. He dove as deep as he could before twisting around and kicking his way to the surface for air. He broke the surface of the water, and inhaled deeply. He always enjoyed swimming in his friend Henry's pool. After filling his lungs with oxygen, he dove back down into the water, kicking his legs rhythmically, going deeper and deeper until his hands touched the bottom of the lake. He turned himself around, and with a powerful thrust, shot halfway back to the surface. A second kick brought him back in contact with air.

He took a few seconds to catch his breath and get his bearings before swimming back to the shore where he'd left his robes. When he finally reached land, he began scrambling up out of the water. His foot slipped, and he began to slide back. A strong hand grabbed him by the wrist, and began to pull. He grabbed the wrist of the stranger with his other hand, and began climbing onto the shore. With a final effort, he scrambled forward, and tumbled onto his stomach on the ground. He climbed up onto his feet to see who had helped him out of the water.

The Jedi was tall; about six foot one, with dark skin, and a bald head. He carried with him an air of invincibility that could scare off even the most resolute mercenary. He needed no introduction. "What are you doing up so early?" he asked, not unkindly.

"I couldn't sleep," he replied with an embarrassed shrug. "I wouldn't have expected you to be out here this early."

"Just because I'm on the council doesn't mean that I don't need some time alone to think. And there's no better place for thinking than this room, wouldn't you agree?" He spread out his hands, gesturing at the room.

Andrew grinned slightly. "This is true," he replied, pulling on his boots. "So, if you're, like, the second most powerful Jedi in the galaxy, why did you choose a Padawan that was too old to start training?"

Mace stared off into space for a few seconds. He quickly regained his composure, and looked and Andrew. "I have my reasons," he answered simply. "The council felt that you deserved a chance. Myself included. One of us was the best choice. I volunteered. Does that answer your question?"

Andrew considered the answer for a moment before responding. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Now, since we're both here, we might as well begin our training. Since you haven't had the luxury of being brought up in the Jedi Temple, we're going to have to start at the beginning."

Andrew nodded. "Alright, tell me what to do."

Mace smiled. "That attitude will get you far here. Here's what we'll do first…"

Hr

_I remember my first day of training very well. He took me to a room filled with crates and a storage unit with some training materials. The first thing he had me do was lift a crate off the floor. He didn't even tell me how to do it._

_I reached out my hand, closed my eyes and concentrated. I imagined the crate moving, opened my eyes, and what I saw surprised me…_

Hr

Andrew stared at the crate, and lowered his arm. He sighed heavily. "Great, now what?" he asked aloud.

Mace Windu's face was impassionate as always. "You did it wrong," he stated simply.

Andrew rolled his eyes. "Well, how _am _I supposed to do it?"

"Like this," Mace replied calmly and reached towards the crate. It slowly lifted off the ground, and hovered in mid air several feet off the ground. He lowered his arm, and the crate followed the movement. "It's not enough to just picture it; you have to _will_ it to happen. You have to feel the Force, not just assume that it's there. Try again."

Andrew inhaled deeply, and focused on the crate. As he stared at it, he began to think he saw a drawing on lined paper. He could almost see an equation drawn to represent the force of gravity. _What if,_ he thought to himself, bringing his hand up to his chin in concentration, _what if a force were applied here, pulling it up, like a giant hand. It would have to start off strong. Strong enough to counter the force of gravity, but it would have to decrease back down to equal the gravitational pull once it was at the desired height. It's going to be tricky, but we'll deal with that when the time comes._

He began to focus on the sheet of paper he imagined being in front of him. He began drawing the equations in his mind that would represent a force pulling the crate up. He quickly found that it was easier said than done. It wasn't that he didn't know the equations; no, he knew them better than anything, they just didn't want to stay. He needed something else, something to help channel his will. He reached out his hand, and positioned it to that, from his perspective, that it was holding the crate.

He slowly raised his hand, mentally writing the correct equation that would represent what he was picturing in the air. Slowly, the crate began to lift into the air, and stayed there. Sweat beaded on Andrew's forehead. _It'll get easier with practice,_ he told himself. _I'll also need to find a way to make the process go faster, but that shouldn't be too hard, now that I know what I'm doing._ He carefully lowered the box to the floor by reversing the process he used to get it up. As soon as the crate touched the floor, Andrew slumped against the wall in exhaustion. He looked over at his Jedi Master.

Mace nodded. "Well done. You have made your first step. But it's only going to get harder. You must be prepared for what is to come; no one can do it for you."

Andrew nodded. "I've been thinking," he began, "could I maybe change my name? Andrew might sound a little weird here."

"That would be permissible. Have you thought of one yet?"

Andrew nodded. "I'd like to be known as Foral now."

"Any particular reason?"

"I just threw together a couple of letters together," Foral admitted sheepishly.

Mace smiled. "It works. Now, let's continue with your training."

Hr

_The rest of the morning progressed slowly. I learned to manipulate objects and people. You know, physical stuff. The telekinetic aspect of the Force. We didn't eat breakfast that day, we just kept going. I've never worked that hard in my life!_

Hr

Foral stood in the doorway of the mess hall, scanning the room. It didn't look much different than the rest of the Temple, as far as how it looked. There was a counter running the length of the room in the back wall, with an opening to the kitchen. Much like a school cafeteria, Foral mused.

The room was filled with the buzz of multiple conversations, half of which were shouted across the room. Jedi students had grouped themselves by age and proficiency. The older, more experienced Padawans separating themselves from the younger students.

Foral went to the counter to get his food, took a seat at an empty table, and began to eat. He listened with detached interest to a conversation about a previous combat training session at the table behind him as he ate. The group consisted of a Wookie, a male Twilek with purple skin, a Gungan, a serpentine Hysalrian, a massive four armed Besalisk, a Noghri, and a humans.

Halfway through his lunch, he became aware of the Besalisk muttering something to the Gungan, and the Gungan muttering something to the Twilek, and so on down the line, until the entire group had stopped talking loud enough for him to hear. Then he felt a tap on his right shoulder. He turned to face the table behind him.

"Hey," the older of the two human padawans said, "You're new around here, aren't you?"

Foral shrugged. "Yeah, why?"

The other padawan shrugged back. "We've just never seen you before. You're what, sixteen?"

Foral nodded in response. "And you're wondering why the council agreed to my training."

The other padawans nodded, clearly eager to hear the story. Foral obliged. "I helped a couple of Jedi off of my home planet, and in exchange they brought me here. The council decided that I had Force-potential, and that I was to be trained by Master Windu..."

"Master Windu?" the Besalisk asked, awe in his voice, "how did you land _that_ one?"

Foral shrugged. "I don't know, I guess he offered, or maybe he just drew the short straw, I don't know."

"Well," the first padawan began, "congratulations, you have one of the best masters possible. My name is Jeif Adlos, my master is Fy-Tor-Ana, the Noghri is Nejkehm, his master is Ferus Olin, the Besalisk is Gif Slage, and his master is Darrus Jeht. The Gungan is Thogi Droaer, trained by Master Ma'kis'shaalas, the Twilek is Andma Thibos, he's a Jedi Knight, and master to the Hysalrian, Eca'sen'tra. And last, but certainly not least, is Grrangtaank, the Wookie. We usually just call him Tank, though. His master is Roan Shryn. Now that I've told you who we are, who are you?"

"I'm Foral McDerson," he replied, extending his hand to Jeif, who took it and gave it a firm shake.

"Welcome to the Jedi Temple," the other said with a smile.

* * *

**A/N:** Thank you for reading this chapter. Please review, and be ready for the next one.


End file.
